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Opinion
Pankaj Mishra

Terrorists Didn’t Change the World, We Did

The most vicious assaults on Western freedoms were launched by their supposed defenders — politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers and journalists — in the months and years after 9/11.

The U.S. is now besieged by the “violence that gathers within.”

The U.S. is now besieged by the “violence that gathers within.”

Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America
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The world changed on 9/11 — this sentiment was expressed again during the recent commemorations of the World Trade Center attacks. But the world did not change on September 11, 2001. Nor did the mass-murderers of al-Qaeda ever possess the power to change the world.

This small band of fanatics certainly “hated our freedoms,” as President George W. Bush claimed in September 2001, “our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.” The most vicious assaults on these freedoms, however, were launched by their supposed defenders — politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers and journalists — in the weeks, months and years after 9/11.